Armin Zöggeler
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Olympic medal record | |||
---|---|---|---|
Men's luge | |||
Gold | 2006 Turin | Singles | |
Gold | 2002 Salt Lake City | Singles | |
Silver | 1998 Nagano | Singles | |
Bronze | 1994 Lillehammer | Singles |
Armin Zöggeler (born 4 January 1974, Merano) is an Italian luger and double Olympic champion. He is one of the most successful men in the sport, nicknamed Il Cannibale ("The Cannibal"), for his notable series of victories, or The Iceblood Champion, for his always cold, rational approach to the races.
A police officer by profession, Zöggeler began to luge at a very young age, over natural tracks. Zöggeler won the junior World Cup when he was 14, and made his debut with the Italian national team at the age of 19. Despite a lack of tracks in Italy until the construction of the course for the 2006 Winter Olympics, he turned into one of the most effective lugers ever in the world. His impressive list of winnings include five World Cups, five World Championships (and one silver medal), and one European Championship (plus one silver and three bronze medals). With 32 individual wins in the World Cup, he is third of all time behind German Georg Hackl and Austrian Markus Prock, who won 33.
Zöggeler is the sole Italian to have won at least a medal in four consecutive editions (Summer Olympics included): after a bronze medal in Lillehammer (1994) and one silver in Nagano (1998), he won gold medal in both the 2002 and 2006 editions.
Zöggeler lives in the Lana commune, in South Tyrol. He has two sons, Nina and Thomas.
Categories: 1974 births | Living people | Italian lugers | Competitors at the 1994 Winter Olympics | Competitors at the 1998 Winter Olympics | Competitors at the 2002 Winter Olympics | Competitors at the 2006 Winter Olympics | Olympic competitors for Italy | Natives of Trentino-South Tyrol | Winter Olympics medalists | Olympic gold medalists for Germany | Olympic silver medalists for Germany | Olympic bronze medalists for Germany | German Italians | Italian sportspeople stubs | Winter Olympic medalist stubs